James McCartney to play at the Liverpool O2 Arena, Liverpool

Feb 11 2010 by Adrian Short, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

SIR Paul McCartney’s son, James, is keeping the family trade alive by going on his first ever tour starting in Liverpool – with songs partly inspired by The Beatles.

The 32-year-old multi-instrumentalist played a handful of concerts in October last year under the pseudonym Light, in a bid to distance himself from his world-renowned father.

He is most notable in the music business for playing guitar and drums as well as co-writing a few songs on some of his father’s solo albums, including Flaming Pie (1997) and Driving Rain (2001). On Flaming Pie he has an electric guitar solo on the track Heaven on a Sunday.

On Driving Rain, he co-wrote the songs Spinning On An Axis and Back In The Sunshine Again with his father, and played percussion on the former track and guitar on the latter. He also plays lead guitar on his mother’s posthumously released solo album Wide Prairie.

McCartney, who is the son of Sir Paul and Linda McCartney, said: “The music was inspired by The Beatles, Nirvana, The Cure, PJ Harvey, Radiohead – and all good music.

“It is basically rock ’n’ roll, clean sounding and vocal.

“The words on the album refer to spirituality, love, family, trying to sort out one’s life, and many other things.”

McCartney’s tour kicks off at the O2 Academy on February 25.